NFL Notes: Broncos, Browns, Cowboys, Redskins, & Steelers

Broncos

• Mike Mayock believes the Broncos could consider an OT like Stanford’s Andrus Peat or wait until the second round and target Oregon’s Jake Fisher, Wisconsin’s Rob Havenstein or Penn State’s Donovan Smith.

Browns

• The Browns officially hired Kevin O’Connell as their quarterbacks coach on Tuesday.

“Kevin has already shown a knack for individual teaching at a high level,” HC Mike Pettine said. “Our experience being around him makes us confident he will easily transition into being an extremely valuable member of our staff.”

• The Browns also hired Kurt Roper as a “senior offensive assistant.” (Bruce Feldman)

Cowboys

Cowboys  VP Stephen Jones didn’t rule out the idea of using their franchise tag on RB DeMarco Murray.

“I would never rule anything out,” Jones said, via Rainer Saban of the Dallas Morning News. “Who knows what tomorrow brings? Things have a sudden way of getting kicked in and you start to get some traction on something. You go down that road and get that done. It’s dominoes.

“I told a lot of our guys, ‘Just because you go to free agency doesn’t mean you’re not coming back.’ Jay Novacek and Darren Woodson both went to free agency and they both came back. So just because we don’t get a deal done by when the gun goes off [at the start of the league year], doesn’t mean we’re not keeping them. We don’t have a deal on a lot of those guys up until now. Some of them…want to see free agency. We certainly respect that and figure out what we can do and go from there.”

Redskins

• Chris Russell of ESPN 980 Washington reports that Redskins backup QB Kirk Cousins has been working out with Jon Gruden this offseason.

Steelers

• Scott Brown of ESPN.com takes a look at three small school prospects that could be on the Steelers’ radar in the coming months.
• According to Brown, Miami (Ohio) CB Quinten Rollins, Northern Iowa RB David Johnson, Delaware TE Nick Boyle are a few names to keep an eye on.